There's little that's amazing about The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

There’s precious little that’s amazing about “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014, Sony, PG-13, $30), an over-stuffed sequel to 2012’s franchise reboot. The biggest problem is a villain overload, with boring bad guys Electro (Jamie Foxx), Green Goblin (Zionsville-reared Dane DeHaan) and Rhino (Paul Giamatti) facing off endlessly with Our Man in Spandex (Andrew Garfield). What does work is the flirty relationship between the webcrawler and his gal pal Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Whenever Garfield and Stone are onscreen together, the movie comes alive, and you keep wishing it would transform into a romantic comedy and stop being yet another chaotic, effects-laden superhero spectacle. Extras: deleted scenes, featurettes, music video and commentary by director Marc Webb.

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Hateship Loveship (2014, IFC, R, $25) In one of her first dramatic roles, Kristen Wiig delivers a beautifully understated performance as a shy housekeeper named Johanna who’s hired by an elderly man (Nick Nolte) to help care for his teenage granddaughter (Hailee Steinfeld). Thanks to an unusual series of events, Johanna comes to believe that Steinfeld’s down-and-out father (Guy Pearce) has a crush on her. Crisply directed by Liza Johnson, “Hateship Loveship” finds magic in the ordinary. In the end, it seems to say, there’s no situation that can’t be improved with a little vacuuming and a fresh serving of beef stew. Extras: none.

Fading Gigolo (2014, Millennium, R, $28) After shuttering his bookstore, the enterprising Murray (Woody Allen) opts to pimp out his buddy Fiorvante (writer/director John Turturro) to a pair of women (Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara) looking for a threesome. Once you get past the implausibility of the premise, “Fading Gigolo” is sweet and soulful, especially the scenes between Fiorvante and a desperately lonely rabbi’s widow named Avigal (Vanessa Paradis). Not even a dull subplot involving a Hassidic cop (Liev Schreiber) can totally dampen the fun. Extras: deleted scenes and Turturro commentary.

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Proxy (2014, IFC, unrated, $25) Get ready to be shocked, scared and creeped out by Zack Parker’s ingenious thriller, a movie so twisty and perverse that it occasionally recalls a cross between Brian DePalma’s “Sisters” and “Dressed to Kill.” An impossible to describe movie without giving away spoilers, “Proxy” takes off from a horrific act of violence perpetrated against a pregnant woman (Alexia Rasmussen). A number of murders, make-out sessions and support group meetings later, “Proxy” has morphed into a one-of-a-kind look at bad mothering and mental illness. Does this sound disturbing? It is. Extras: featurettes.

Breathe In (2014, Cohen, R, $25) There’s a grinding predictability about this indie drama which the accomplished performances and lovely cinematography can’t disguise. Felicity Jones plays Sophie, a pouty English exchange student who wrecks havoc on the American family (Guy Pearce, Amy Ryan, Mackenzie Davis) sponsoring her. Dad is so smitten, in fact, that he risks everything to be with her. Thanks to talented writer/director Drake Doremus (“Like Crazy”), “Breathe In” has a lot of energy but the characters never deepen as the movie goes along. Extras: none.

Filth (2014, Magnolia, R, $28) Imagine “Bad Lieutenant” remade as a comedy, and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from this surreal look at a depraved Edinburgh police officer (James McAvoy) who could care less about crime-solving, preferring to spend his time snorting coke, guzzling alcohol and bullying co-workers (Imogen Poots, Jamie Bell). Based on a cult novel by Irvine Welsh (“Trainspotting”), “Filth” is a nasty piece of work but McAvoy hijacks your attention with a performance that is unsettlingly commanding. Extras: deleted scenes, featurettes, outtakes and commentaries by Welsh and director Jon S.Baird.

The Quiet Ones (2014, Lionsgate, PG-13, $20) In this painfully inept horror movie, “Mad Men’s” Jared Harris stars as an Oxford professor who, along with some loyal students and a local photographer (Sam Claflin), holes up in a secluded mansion in the country where he hopes to cure a disturbed young woman (Olivia Cooke) of assorted delusions. Director John Pogue’s idea of ratcheting up the suspense is to shake the camera while filling the soundtrack with loud bangs and blasts of sound. Illogical and surprise-free, “The Quiet Ones” is nothing to shout about. Extras: Pogue commentary, featurettes, outtakes and deleted scenes.

Radio Days (1987, Twilight Time, PG, $30) Blu-ray gives Woody Allen’s lovely ode to nostalgia a vivid boost. Set primarily in Rockaway, Queens in the 1930s and 1940s, the film follows both the members of a tight-knit Jewish clan (Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Seth Green) as well as the Manhattan-based radio performers (Mia Farrow) who capture their imaginations. It’s charmingly episodic with Allen providing funny, occasionally bittersweet voice-over narration to link together vignettes, gags, radio broadcasts and the occasional musical number. Extras: none.

The Phantom of the Paradise (1974, Shout Factory, PG, $30) Before he became a master of suspense, Brian DePalma directed one of the strangest films on his resume: a rock opera crisscross of “Phantom Of The Opera” and “Faust.” William Finley stars as Winslow, a nerdy songwriter whose magnum opus is stolen by an evil record producer named Swan (Paul Williams). After Winslow is disfigured in an accident, he takes his revenge on Swan by haunting the impresario’s lavish new venue. DePalma stuffs the movie with rock star parodies, slapstick interludes and a tragic love story. Even though “Phantom” eventually jumps off the rails, it manages to stimulate the imagination the way few rock musicals do. Extras: featurettes and commentaries.

After Office Hours (1935, Warner Archive, unrated, $20) After winning an Oscar for “It Happened One Night,” Clark Gable toplined this fast-paced newspaper comedy about an editor determined to solve a high-society murder. When Gable discovers the paper’s just-fired music critic (Constance Bennett) is a heiress, he hires her back so she can help him unmask the killer. Naturally, the pair fall in love while trading banter about the haves and the have-nots. “After Office Hours” benefits greatly from a witty script by Herman J. Mankiewicz (“Citizen Kane”) and tangy chemistry between Gable and Bennett. At its best, it’s a real firecracker. Extras: none.

Motel Hell: Collector’s Edition (1980, Shout Factory, R, $30) In this underrated horror comedy, now on Blu-ray, a seemingly kindly farmer/ motel owner (Rory Calhoun) hunts humans to use as the secret ingredient for his famous smoked sausages. Splatter enthusiasts will find much to enjoy here, including a terrifying slaughterhouse finale complete with chainsaw duel. It’s also possible to read the film as a meat-is-murder tract and to groove on the truly twisted humor. Bon Appétit. Extras: featurettes and audio commentary by director Kevin Connor.

The Good Wife: The Fifth Season (2014, Paramount, unrated, $55) The finest drama on network TV keeps getting better and better. The season starts off with a bang as Alicia (Julianne Margulies) struggles to deal with her husband’s (Chris Noth) gubernatorial win and her decision to leave Lockhart/Gardner behind for her own firm. Even though there’s not enough Kalinda (Archie Panjabi), the latest batch of episodes crackle with excitement, right down to the shocker death of a beloved series regular. Extras: featurettes.

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fourth Season (2014, HBO, unrated, $60) After barely surviving a coup by a rival gangster (Bobby Cannavale), Atlantic City bootlegger Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is back with a new set of alliances. Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) has been given his own club to run, allowing Nucky time to pursue a real estate boom in Florida. Other developments include the arrival of mysterious Valentin Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright); the efforts of Nucky’s brother Eli (Shea Whigham) to keep his son (Ben Rosenfield) out of the mob; and the introduction of a pair of mafia-busting lawmen (Eric Ladin, Brian Geraghty). Extras: featurettes and commentaries.

Rosemary’s Baby (2014, Lionsgate, unrated, $20) Zoe Saldana is a fine actress but, unlike Mia Farrow who famously played the titular heroine in Roman Polanski’s 1968 original, she fails to exude a much-needed sense of fragility. That said, this moody mini-series about a woman impregnated by the devil benefits greatly from a change of location (Paris instead of New York) and the presence of two elegantly twisted baddies (Jason Isaacs, Carole Bouquet). It won’ t make you forget the Polanksi masterpiece but it will make 170 minutes go by very quickly. Extras: featurettes.

About the Author

Amy Longsdorf is a freelance writer who got hooked on movies after catching "The Godfather" on the big screen. She is a weekly contributor to The Mercury's Sunday Living Section writing entertainment features and DVD reviews. She graduated from Cedar Crest College in Allentown with a degree in communications and has written for People Magazine, The New york Daily News, The Toronto Star, Philadelphia Weekly and The Camden Courier Post. She contributed to "Videohound's Groovy Movies:Far Out Films of the Psychedelic Era." Reach the author at movieamy@aol.com
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